BSF orders court of inquiry into Tripura firing that left 3 dead on Bangladesh border

BSF orders court of inquiry into Tripura firing that left 3 dead on Bangladesh border

Three days after an incident of firing by its jawans had left three persons including a woman dead near the Indo-Bangladesh border in southern Tripura, the Border Security Force (BSF) on Monday ordered a court of inquiry with a senior officer from outside the Udaipur sector entrusted with the task. Informing this, Hardeep Singh, DIG […]

Three days after an incident of firing by its jawans had left three persons including a woman dead near the Indo-Bangladesh border in southern Tripura, the Border Security Force (BSF) on Monday ordered a court of inquiry with a senior officer from outside the Udaipur sector entrusted with the task.

Informing this, Hardeep Singh, DIG at the BSF’s Tripura Frontier headquarters in Agartala said the process was already initiated to carry out a thorough inquiry into the incident. “While the court of inquiry has been ordered, we have already initiated suitable administrative action to prevent recurrence of such incidents in the future,” DIG Singh told The Indian Express over the telephone.

Three persons, all tribals, one of whom was a woman, were killed and two others sustained serious bullet injuries when BSF jawans opened fire on a group of people who had allegedly tried to attack and overpower them after the jawans had tried to prevent some people from smuggling out cattle across the international border Thursday.

While local reports quoting the villagers said that a BSF jawan had attempted to molest a woman, the BSF, while denying that allegation said the “unfortunate incident” had occurred when a group of villagers clashed with the jawans when the latter tried to stop cattle from being smuggled out. The incident had occurred at village Bhangamura in the Sabroom subdivision of South district, where jawans of the 31 BSF Battalion are posted along the Indo-Bangla border.

With protests continued even for the fourth day in Tripura demanding arrest of the jawans responsible for causing death to the villagers, RP Singh, Additional DG (Eastern Command) of the BSF in Kolkata on Monday visited the spot along with senior local officers and also interacted with the local police officers there, DIG Singh said.

The Additional DG also met chief minister Manik Sarkar and senior officials of the Tripura Police in Agartala, during which he apprised the state government of institution of a court of inquiry into the incident.